A Moment of Weakness
by Neraciro
Summary: A single mistake is all it takes for Luca to miss out on something important. AU, takes place before the anime. Contains SherryxAki and the slightest hint of LucaxSherry if one squints hard enough. Reviews are much loved and appreciated!


_**A Moment of Weakness**_

Luca tapped her foot patiently against the waiting room seat, glancing up periodically at the large television above her, and then at the arena entrance. At any moment she expected her brother to come running out to her, eager eyed and cheering himself to tears. She had very little doubt he would win the coming match, and land himself in the finals against the champion of Neo Domino City, the King. Glancing down at her mirror, she practiced her congratulatory smile. Wide-eyed, relaxed, eager, disbelieving and many more. Each flicked by with the blink of an eye. Since the announcement, she had practiced them all many times over and nothing had changed. Even now they were strained, holding just the slightest hint that she felt like murdering him.

Damn it. For the eighth time today she felt like taking the mirror and hurling it across the room, but for the eighth time she resisted the urge and looked away, back to the television. There he was, waving joyously to the crowd and promising them a fantastic Duel, just like always. His opponent, on the other hand was some type of hipster. Spiky hair, chains, boxer shorts - all of it enough to make her feel sick. She wondered how a teenager walking around in little more than boxer shorts could stand there with that look of self-superiority on his face, let alone evade what should have been derisive laughter from bemused spectators. To her, he looked like he'd forgotten that pants and shirts were an important part of public presentation.

Maybe she'd do better the ninth time, when Lua won. Or at least, when the hipster lost.

The camera moved away, toward the MC and Luca immediately had to bit her tongue. Her sister had taught her better than to shout profanity at television screens, but she had also taught her not to suppress her feelings lest bad things come of it. So, sneaking a quick peek to make sure nobody in the almost empty room was looking, she made a subtle gesture at the television.

"And the winner of the Junior Division…Luca Leblanc!" The MC had opened his mouth to deliver what had become his catchphrase, but Luca heard only the most insulting announcement she had heard all day. She could see herself on that stage now, facing down the nine-year old who had fallen on his backside, wide-eyed and gazing at her as if she were the Devil himself, unable to string together three letters, let alone a sentence. He had played a single card, before she had played six and won the Duel on her first turn. It served them right, she fumed for laughing at her Monsters. Just because they were small, everybody who had looked at them had immediately presumed they were weak. And when they had looked at her, they had assumed the teenager was a child and slotted her into the Junior Division - a mistake that could not be undone once made. She certainly hadn't been smiling when her victory had been announced. After all, the kid's division was little more than a place for weaklings to congregate and for dreams to be born. Not at all for somebody of her skill or age. What had offended her the most, but were the comments she had overheard from the spectators.

"Aww, look at the little girl's Monsters! Aren't they cute?"

"She's pretty good, for an eight-year old!"

"Come on, Princess! Turn that frown upside-down!" The last one particularly got under her skin, and she had made another subtle gesture at him in a spare moment. He hadn't noticed, she was certain, but Lua had.

"Come on, Luca." As she had returned to the waiting room, twenty-dollar voucher in hand he had patted her on the shoulder, more comforting than disapproving. "There's no reason you can't enjoy yourself!"

She had just given him a hard look. "Says the Duellist fighting in the Adult Division."

"You should have smiled a bit more."

_You should have smiled_. That was what his eyes really said, but she had waved it away wearily. "They should have put me in the Adult Division," she countered simply. She had gestured, and Lua had followed her hand, blinking as he looked upon nothing. "See here? Cheering fans, heralding in their champion. Asking for my autograph, for a moment of my time. Listen, and hear how much they respect the Junior Champion."

He had understood. "It won't be much better for me," he had insisted.

"Don't try to make me feel better." She looked at him. "You'll be the youngest champion ever, and then you'll have your celebration match with Jack Atlas. Then when you beat him, you'll be the youngest King ever. Who's going to ignore you?"

"I'm sorry, Luca. I didn't want it to be this way."

She sighed, and looked away. "I'm not blaming you, I'd be silly to. It's the entry manager's fault, for putting me here in the first place." Her eyes landed derisively on her voucher. "I could have made this money going through Sis's underwear draw. It would have been a lot more fun as well." She had tried her first smile then, and she had seen Lua's enthusiasm flag further. Clearly, then it hadn't been the most encouraging of smiles. Forcing it away, she had given him a quick hug. "Win for your baby sister, alright?"

He had nodded uncertainly. "Are you going to be alright?"

She had pointed to the television. "I'll watch your First Turn Kills from here." Her second smile, too had been a dismal failure. "I promise I won't murder that man while you're gone."

Had it not been for the announcement calling for all Adult entrants to enter the stadium then, Luca was certain Lua would still be with her now. Even then it had only been her prodding that had seen him through the gate, and her restraint that had seen her not knock him out, dress as him and take the Adult Championship as well. Even now she had no right to deny her brother his own shot at glory and happiness.

_I should be there as well. Standing by him, waving to the audience. Smiling_, she thought. Instead here she was, looking at her brother's happiest moment from a waiting room. Not a seat in the Stadium was untaken, and when she had tried to sneak past the guard on duty, he had stopped her.

"Excuse me, Miss." His brow had scrunched in thought as he looked at her, trying to remember who she was. At any other time, she would have found the scenario laughable. Already the Junior Champion was a faint memory, it seemed. "I can't let you go through here without your parents."

Any other excuse she could have taken with a forced smile. She wasn't a competitor, a Duel was about to start, the area was off-limits. Her teeth clenched and she again fought back the urge to swear. She was certain that he had deliberately chosen the single most insulting words he could deliver to her, and so she had given him a withering look. "My parents are dead," she had snapped in a tone that suggested she wanted to eat his heart, and the guard's face had paled. Before he could say anything she had stormed away, back over to the seat she had made her own. She spared only a brief glimpse back at him, and felt a dull satisfaction as he looked rightfully shamed.

_Serves him right._

As she settled into her seat, her gaze stopped on the figure engraved into the table before her. King Jack himself frowned out at her judgmentally, his eyes set in such a way that she felt her execution was at hand. Still, she made a face at the engraving. Her older sister, she knew could have eaten Jack Atlas whole and spat him out if she felt like it, and the same was true of her girlfriend Aki. Since she and Lua had been trained by both, it stood to reason that both of them could do the same. And yet, through the error of a fat man who smelt like an onion, she had instead fought off little kids and won. She turned a scarlet hue as she imagined going to Duel Academy tomorrow and the derisive laughter that was sure to be directed at her. Or worse, she suddenly thought, perhaps she would be heralded as the junior age champion. And then there would be the people who accused her of entering the championship deliberately for an easy win, incapable of fighting people her own age and winning.

There would be a lot of subtle gesturing tomorrow, she predicted.

Sherry wouldn't have let such a thing as this happen. She would have thrown the onion man away from his computer and made the change herself, had necessity demanded it of her. Luca sighed as in her mind's eye she saw her sister, larger than life and absolutely invincible, with the familiar glint of fire in her eyes that made anybody obey her whims and yet complete with an alluring smile that made her the perfect image of a benevolent champion, even if it was only that of Duel Academy. Even Aki had never defeated her before, and they all knew that Sherry had never even had a chance - or a reason - to call on her ultimate card before. She had yearned to see it for as long as she could walk, and yet Sherry would never reveal it, always giving them a teasing smile when they inevitably asked about it again.

"You can see it when I play it," she would always tease them all. "But if you want to see it, you have to make me play it."

All that humiliation, all that time wasted, and all she had received was twenty dollars. She fished the teasing voucher out of her pocket and eyed it with distaste. Weeks of training with Lua and coming up with brand-new combinations had all been wasted for this. It didn't take a particularly skilled Duellist, after all to defeat the Duellist whose strongest card was Stone Dragon. Part of her just wanted to scream, while another vocal part suggested yelling at the onion man and shaking him, like Sherry would have doubtlessly done. Both, but would have seen her tossed out in the blink of an eye - or put in a nearby playpen, she thought to herself darkly. Was there truly so much difference between her and Lua, she wondered? Certainly she couldn't see anything in a mirror to differentiate the two fourteen year old twins except for the attributes unique to their genders, but clearly the world saw Lua as three years older than her for some reason. She wanted to just be angry with the voucher, with the people who had agreed she deserved to be in the Junior Division, but something else kept slipping over her face. She knew exactly what it was, as she looked at her mirror. She had felt it the moment she had seen the voucher, but had taken every effort to hide it, especially from Lua. He didn't need to know something like that, not now.

She took a deep breath, and looked in her mirror. For just a moment it worked, but then it was back in her eyes, threatening to overtake her. Her lip quivered slightly. Swallowing, she stood up and wandered out of the room. The match wouldn't be starting for at least another five minutes, she knew - enough time for the MC to settle the crowd, thank everybody who had participated and Rex Godwin, for funding the tournament entirely by himself. He would also speak, inevitably of the following match with Jack before hyping up the two Duellists. Even though it was only a Ground Duel, the fact was that their King would be coming before them, and that was something few in Neo Domino would willingly miss. The match with the hipster would be quick, she knew, so she would have to be quick as well. Slipping into the bathroom, she performed a quick scan of the stalls. Nobody else was with her. Perfect. She felt herself shake slightly, as she pulled out her phone and dialed her sister's number. She took another breath, and considered locking herself in one of the stalls - then thought different of it, settling into a corner instead as she dialed the familiar number.

"Come on…" she muttered softly. She feared hearing the familiar answering message that answered so many of her calls, but fate was on her side as the phone rang.

Where had it been, then, when the onion man had taken her entry?

Three rings, and then there was a click. "Hello?"

For a moment, Luca didn't answer. Words failed her, and she leaned back against the cold tile wall with a shuddering sigh. It was all she could do to stop herself from breaking down completely.

"Hello?"

"…Aki?" She found her voice with an effort.

Silence. Surprised breaths were captured by the phone, and she could almost feel the warm breath upon her neck. She tried to smile, but couldn't manage. "Luca, is that you?"

She nodded automatically, then remembered that Aki couldn't see her. "Yeah, it's me. I-Is Sis around?"

"Mm-hmm, she's around here somewhere." Another pause. "Luca, are you alright?"

She was hardly surprised by the question. "How did you know?"

"Your voice, of course." Luca almost smiled at the obvious answer. "What happened?"

"We entered the tournament."

"And you lost?"

"N-No." Her voice shuddered, and then her shoulders. She had just a moment to curse her weakness before she collapsed into helpless tears and managed to choke out the story to an alarmed Aki.

"Oh, Luca." Her tender voice radiated with genuine pity, opposed to the uncomprehending silence she had expected. She could almost feel her wrapping her in a hug, could almost see the sympathy the beautiful girl would have looked at her with. "That's not fair at all!"

"They refused to change it," she added tearfully. "It was either win that or forfeit to a child!" She faltered. "It was nothing more than mockery."

"Luca, I'm sorry. I wish I could have helped you."

She gazed at her watch. "I really wanted to fight him, too."

"Jack, you mean?"

She shook her head, then remembered she was on a phone. "No, I mean Lua. I wanted to have a proper tournament Duel with him for once - and this is what came of it." She shook again, but silent tears came regardless. "I let him down, Aki," she sobbed plaintively.

"No, you didn't," she replied. "Luca, listen to me. You didn't let anybody down!"

"I did," she insisted. "I should have been like Sis, I shouldn't have given up. But I did, and this is what happened because of it."

Another silence. Even the sound of Aki's comforting breaths were gone now. Perhaps she had gotten sick of listening to her cry, then. She couldn't blame her for that. Hesitantly her finger moved to disconnect the call.

"Luca." A shiver ran down her spine, her hand froze, tears sprung back into her eyes and she smiled thinly, all at the same time as she heard Sherry's voice. She didn't know, in that moment whether to clutch the phone closer or to hang up in shame. "Don't cry, it won't solve anything."

She sniffed loudly, and obediently wiped away tears. A moment passed, before she could speak without that shuddering sob in her voice. "I let you down, Sis. I let Lua down as well. I should have been more like you!"

"It's not too late, Luca." She knew her sister was smiling, even now and the thought made her struggle to keep her sad face. "Lua knows as well, I'm sure of it."

"What do you mean?"

She laughed lightly. "You'll know by the end of the day, I'm certain of it. It'll be alright."

"I shouldn't have just given up…"

"Then next time, don't give up," Sherry suggested lightly. "Don't just relent and let somebody else push you around, push them back. Show them a Leblanc won't sit down and accept such shabby treatment. You don't have to be me to ask for what you deserve, alright?"

"A-Alright." She took a breath. It was always such simple advice, so simple that she would have never thought of it by herself. "I'm sorry, Sis. If I had just stood up to him more…"

"Did you tell him how you felt?"

She had expected that question. "I did," she confirmed. "But it didn't work."

"That doesn't matter," she pointed out. "The important thing is you said something, so you don't need to think about it anymore. After all, you've learned your lesson from it, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Then that's all you need to remember," Sherry assured her.

A warm sensation filled her chest, and she clutched the phone tighter. "I love you, Sis."

"And I love you, Luca," she replied readily. Only the slightest pitch in her voice gave away any sign of surprise. "Has Lua become the Champion yet?"

She jumped as she considered the sudden question, then glanced down at her watch again. Her face turned white as she realized almost ten minutes had passed. "No," she shook her head, a note of urgency in her voice, "but the match might already be over!"

"Then you should be watching him, right?"

"Yeah. I just…" she faltered. "You know."

There was a moment of silence. "Yeah." She knew that Sherry was nodding as well, forgetting they couldn't see one another. It had been from her that she had picked up the habit, after all. "Are you alright now?"

"I am," she confirmed frantically, and scrambled to her feet. Regret still tugged at her deep down, but she pushed it away firmly. Her sister was right, she decided silently - she wasn't capable of time travel. She could only do better in the future - and she would. She'd just have to deal with what came before then. "Thanks, Sis. Thank Aki for me too, alright?"

"I will. Good luck, Luca." Before she could correct her sister she had hung up. Shoving the phone back into her pocket Luca darted out of the bathroom, almost barrelled into a middle-aged woman, slipped past and made her way back to the waiting room, panting slightly and already thinking of excuses. In her mind's eye she had seen Lua standing here, some grandiose trophy in hand as he tapped his foot impatiently, but instead it was only the same tiny crowd from before. A distorted roar made her look up at the television. The hipster had summoned Tri-Horned Dragon to his field, but with no face-down cards. On the other side of the field, Lua was combining Spell and Monster effects to summon not just one, but three copies of Morphtronic Radion to the field.

She glanced up at the turn counter. It was at two, meaning that this was Lua's first turn. She didn't know whether to laugh at the hipster or cheer for her brother. Both were very good options in her mind, but before she could decide which to follow Lua's three attacks had landed and he had won. Disbelief lined her brother's face for a moment, then joy. With a large grin on his face he pumped his fist into the air, shouting something that was drowned out by the audience's cheering.

Almost instantly the MC was upon them. "Everybody listen!" He declared in his grand tone, and with one hand he indicated Lua. "Today, in this stadium we have witnessed the rise of the youngest champion to ever stand above other Duellists!" He waited for the resulting cheers to wane, before continuing. "Lua Leblanc, do you have anybody to whom you owe this victory, or to whom you wish to share it with?"

Lua looked briefly taken aback, before he managed to nod and take the microphone. "My older sister, Sherry and her girlfriend Aki, they both taught me how to Duel. But," he added, "I think I owe the most thanks to my twin sister, Luca. She's the one that keeps me as good as I am and makes sure I don't slack off." He glanced around suddenly, and waved to the camera. "Thank you, Luca!"

"And there we have it!" The MC shouted over the generous applause. "Don't any of you go away, because up next is the Champion's greatest battle yet - against the King himself!"

As she looked at her brother, Luca smiled broadly. This time, she didn't need her mirror to know it was a good smile.

"Lua." She crossed her arms as the heroic champion came back into the waiting room minutes later, glee still carved into his face. With all of the spectators gathered around to watch the young champion, she resisted the urge to embrace her brother and kiss him as gratitude suggested. Instead, she gave him her warmest smile. "Congratulations!"

"Luca…" he had barely registered her comment. Instead, his gaze was fixed on her shirt collar. He reached out, fingering the damp substance. In an instant, his glee had subsided. "You've been crying, haven't you?"

"No," she lied without pause, "I went to the bathroom." She folded her arms tighter, daring him to comment further.

He didn't, and instead managed another smile. "Did you see me win?"

She nodded eagerly. "I was prepared to kill you myself if you let that dork disgrace the Leblanc name, but now you're onto the Finals!"

He shook his head. "Semifinals," he corrected.

Luca hesitated, mentally running up the tournament ladder in her head. "Who's after Jack, then?"

"You, of course." He smiled at her. Luca, on the other hand blinked disbelievingly. "I'll beat him for both of us, and then we can have our battle. Even if we don't get to fight here, we'll still find out who deserves the title of royalty more."

"Lua…" her breath caught in her throat, preventing her from saying anything else. Instead, she just swept her brother up in a hug. This was what her sister had meant, she was certain of it.

He understood, and promptly returned her embrace.

"You're absolutely, positively not allowed to lose," she said as they broke away. "Teach him what it's like to fight a Leblanc!"

"Don't worry." He gave her an eager thumbs-up. "For you, for me, for Sis and for Aki - I can't lose with that support!"

"Until you fight me, that is."

He faltered, then laughed. "We'll see about that, won't we?"

**END.**


End file.
